National Football League: San Francisco 49ers on a roll

Former Ute Alex Smith had a 157.1 passer rating against hapless arizona

By Janie Mccauley
Associated Press

Published: Sunday, Aug. 2 2015 2:44 p.m. MDT

Alex Smith (Associated Press)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers left tackle Joe Staley claims he caught quarterback and seatmate Alex Smith checking out his trending Twitter self while on the team plane awaiting takeoff Monday night from Arizona.

Ha, says Smith, who insists he has no idea how to tweet.

"I don't even have a Twitter," Smith quipped with a grin Tuesday during a quick walk through the empty locker room. "I don't know what Twitter is."

They can argue that one all they want, yet nobody will deny that Smith and the 49ers (6-2) have been downright dominant of late, including a 24-3 Monday Night Football rout of the Cardinals in a hostile road stadium. In a near-perfect night, Smith completed 18 of 19 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. His passer rating: 157.1.

Smith's stellar outing sparked coach Jim Harbaugh's now heard-everywhere "gobble gobble" remarks when asked about the confidence of his quarterback.

"Just gobble, gobble, gobble turkey. That paints a pretty good picture. He's a very confident guy," the coach said.

Following that up Tuesday, regarding the 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick, Harbaugh said the reference was a quick way to sum up all the skepticism about Smith's abilities under center.

"I think anybody that watched a lot of TV shows in the '70s could relate to it, could understand it," he said. "Sometimes, you get people talking and there's a lot of low content-to-word ratio. Got to call that out, I guess."

Suddenly, this season is looking an awful lot like that special 2011 run. Harbaugh's team is in command of the NFC West again as November nears, heading into the bye week on a roll.

And Smith is doing so much right on the other side of the ball.

He went 14 of 15 for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the first half alone, connecting with Michael Crabtree on both TD tosses as the 49ers built a 17-0 halftime lead. Randy Moss caught a 47-yard TD pass, and Smith hit nine receivers in all.

Not that anybody was tracking Smith's spot-on accuracy as he piled up the completions.

"I was not conscious of what his statistics were," Harbaugh said. "Yeah, that registered, that he was on a hot streak."

Next up is a third straight divisional game — and another chance to create space in the West standings — against St. Louis on Nov. 11 at home.

The 49ers are pretty certain Smith will bring his best again to face the Rams.